Eyes
by Rayne-kun
Summary: Wandering curiously around an abandoned castle, Canas discovers a library with many similar books in it... CanasErk, but that's not the main point of the fic. even those that do not like that paring could still like this fic. yaoi


Disclaimer: Fire Emblem and its characters do not belong to me. The plots to all the books that Canas finds are mine, however. W00t! I own something! pH3312 my m4l) ownzing 50m3th1n6 skillz!

... -cough- yeah. anyways, I really love this fic. I'll now explain what I meant in the summary. This fic is really a.. powerful fic in my opinion... I really like the idea for this fic.. even if you don't like the pairing ErkCanas, I think you will like this fic. If you are a fan of yaoi or shonen ai, or just homosexuality in general, this is a fic for you. I'll make a symbol where those who REALLY don't like this pairing can just stop reading. Not to mention, the CanasErk is kinda random. XD

It will look like this/-/

So yes. You can just stop reading when you see that. Though, you should be more open to the pairing. Though they never speak in the game, think about it. It's possible that they go together. :D

This is the first one-shot I've written, as well as the first Fire Emblem fic.

Oh, and also, I make a reference to their religion in here, but really I know nothing about it. I believe that this Elimine is kind of like their god, so I made it like that. I welcome you to correct me if I am terribly wrong with any of the information I put forth in this story.

One more thing. This fic may come off as a homophobic fic in the beginning. This is not what I am trying to portray. The things he reads are completely against what I believe in, so yeah. Don't just stop reading because of how it seems at first.

Eyes-

Eliwood and the tactician had decided to make camp in an old, abandoned castle. It had apparently once belonged to a wealthy family of nobles, but the owners of it had been killed and the castle taken over by peasants long ago. Most rooms in the stone castle had no furniture, and scorch marks as if the walls had been severely burned, but thankfully there was one untouched room that no peasants had found. It had been hidden, and hidden well. It had taken even Canas a couple of hours to notice it.

Canas had been wandering around the castle in search of hidden rooms such as this, looking for something that would give him a clue. For you see, Canas had been very curious when Marcus had told everyone about the rebellion of the common folk. Why, he had thought, had they done such a thing? Did the nobles overtax them? Were they cruel tyrants who killed mercilessly? Canas made it his mission of sorts to find what the cause of the rebellion was. As a scholar, he simply couldn't turn from the challenge of discovering more about history.

At one point during his search, he had gotten quite tired and leaned against the wall of an empty room for support. As soon as he had done so however, he jumped from the wall in surprise, for something had moved where he had put his arm. When he turned to look at it, he found that a stone had been pushed in slightly.

Curious, he stuck his hand forward to push it in further. He heard a soft click as it stopped, and the murmur of some sort of mechanical device shortly after.

He then gasped as he saw that the wall in the room was slowly being pulled upward to show the doorway to a long corridor, sloping downwards.

The well-known expression 'curiosity killed the cat' was brought to his mind as he stared down the lightless hallway. 'But satisfaction brought it back,' he thought defiantly to himself and stepped through the doorway. He then started walking. The corridor twisted after a while, so he was no longer able to see the light from the room he had been in previously, and was instead thrust into complete and utter darkness.

Being the smart man that he was, he put his right hand on the wall and held his other hand stretched out in front of him so that he wouldn't walk into anything.

He vaguely wondered why it had been that he had chosen dark magic to study instead of light or anima. If he had chosen light, he could simply illuminate the entire corridor, and if he had anima, he could create a small fire and use it as a torch… Oh well.

After quite some time walking, he started to wonder if there was an end to this tunnel, and if whatever was at the end was really worth the walk.

As if in answer to his thoughts, his outstretched hand felt something. He stopped walking and carefully felt the thing in front of him. It was wooden, and he felt lower, hoping to locate a handle. He found one, grasped it tightly with both hands, and pulled.

Surprisingly, the door opened quite easily and Canas entered the new room. What he saw made him gasp in surprise in delight.

It was a library. There had been a library in the castle above, but all the books had been burned to a crisp by the common folk. This room was lit by several small torches on the walls; Canas wondered just how long they had been burning and how they had possibly stayed alight for so long. He decided to examine them more thoroughly after he was done reading the books. The library was quite small, but a library was a library and libraries were certainly welcome to Canas. There were only two shelves of books and a small, but comfortable looking chair beside them, but that was fine.

Canas immediately went over to one of the shelves and started looking at the titles. The shelf seemed to be full of religious looking books, many of which he had previously read. The other shelf was full of more diverse titles, ranging from informational books to adventure novels to romance ones. This intrigued the shaman. Why, he wondered, were the books hidden away like this?

He remembered his mission to discover why the peasants had rebelled. Maybe he could find a journal or diary in here? He looked around the room once more, hoping to find something he hadn't noticed before. Finding nothing, he turned back to the shelves. He examined every title, hoping to find a personal record of sorts. He sighed after he was finished, disappointed by his lack of findings.

Well, he could at least sit down and enjoy a good book. He moved the chair closer to the first shelf so he could reach up and grab a book without having to get up. Deciding to start at the bottom, he reached down and grabbed the first title he saw: Eliminean Laws… His eyes widened as he realized that there was a page in the text that was dog-eared. He turned to the page slowly and examined it.

This was apparently a book dealing with what a good Eliminean could and could not do. There was a passage that was underlined on the page, and Canas began to read it.

_Thou shalt not fall in love with those of the same sex. If thou chooses to do so, thou art impure and are not permitted to be bound in the holy act of marriage. Those who dare disobey this law are to be burned away. Elimine shalt not forgive thou if thou dost not heed her warning._

Canas stared at the page wide-eyed. He knew that homosexuality was forbidden by Elimine, but he had no idea that the punishment for it was so severe.

He put the book down beside him and reached to grab the next book on the shelf. This one was called Holy Teachings.

It had a dog-eared page as well. Canas turned to it and slowly read the underlined words.

_If one is a pure religious man, one must obey basic laws._

The underline stopped there, only to be continued about halfway down the page.

_The act of homosexuality is against the word of Elimine. Those who chose to go down this path are merely confused. They are unable to realize that what they are doing is foul. Contaminated become their souls before they even begin to notice it; however, those who commit this defiling act shall not be harmed. They are merely suffering through a terrible disease. It is an illness in the head from which they suffer, and they cannot rationally think. The best treatment is to send them to a convent or church to live in._

Canas shook his head at the page. To think loving those of the same sex was an illness. The thought was preposterous.

Every book on the first shelf had a dog-eared page with underlined words, all saying that homosexuality was a terrible, disgusting thing.

Canas then put all the books carefully back on the shelf and moved his chair to the other one.

He then went through the same procedure on the second shelf, starting at the bottom once again. The first title he found was an adventure book by the name of The Life of Sanso the Brave.

He flipped once again to the dog-eared page and was slightly surprised by what a large portion of text had been underlined; but nevertheless, he began to read.

_Sanso looked around at this new village he had entered. What he saw was unimaginable. There were many couples holding hands on the street, like in any ordinary village, but something was considerably different about it. There were women holding hands with women, men holding hands with men. He even saw a pair of teenaged boys kissing against the wall of a store near him. The sight was so disturbing that he knew what he must do. He ran to the center of the village._

"_People!" he cried out. "People of this village!" The residents stopped their strolling and turned to look at him. "I beg of you to bring me the one who leads you!" he shouted once more._

_An old man stepped forward. "Yes young man? I lead this village. What would you like? I see you are a newcomer. Would you like to sleep at one of our inns, or –"_

_Sanso cut him off, unable to contain himself. "Old man. Are you aware that there are gays in this village?"_

_The old man laughed. "Am I aware? Of course I am aware. My husband and I have been married for fifty years and we support each and every one of the homosexual couples in our village."_

_Sanso addressed the village in a loud voice. "Are you people aware that what you are doing is a crime against Elimine? She is very displeased with this kind of behavior. I beg of you, please end your evil ways!"_

_The old man beside him looked at him with wide eyes. "Evil? We are not evil. We are simply different."_

"_Is this true?" Sanso called out. "Do you believe you are not evil? Will you not end your indecent ways?"_

_A silence spread through the small village._

_Sanso the Brave sighed deeply, his expression one of sorrow. "People of this village. Elimine and I are saddened by your unwillingness to obey her laws. I am deeply hurt to be the one to do this, but you will all thank me the day we meet in the land above."_

_He raised one hand above his head, placing the other on his Elfire tome._

_As he walked away from the smoking ruins of the corrupt town, he smiled. "Oh Elimine. I am glad to have served you once again."_

Canas put down the book, breathing deeply and in shock. "That was..." he said aloud, "terrible..." He shivered, and then leaned back into the chair, trying to relax himself.

Meanwhile-

Erk shoved the blanket off of himself. He had been lying down for nearly two hours and he still hadn't been able to sleep. Everyone was paired up in separate rooms of the castle, and he had unfortunately been assigned to share a room with Serra. Every time he had moved to the other end of the room, she would follow him and continue her annoying chatter.

It had taken what had felt like hours to poor Erk for her to finally shut up and go to sleep.

But even as she slept peacefully, Erk found that he couldn't do the same. The mage had been plagued by insomnia for a couple of weeks now, and it was really making him weak when the time came to battle.

He had tried everything, but nothing worked. So after two hours of attempting to fall asleep, he finally just got up and decided to have a look around their encampment.

He stood up and neatly avoided Serra, who was sprawled across the floor, making it very difficult to not step on her. He then walked quietly down the corridor he was in, hoping to find something interesting. All that he could see in every room was a lot of burnt rock. 'Wow. Very interesting stuff here,' he thought sarcastically.

Then he noticed something in one of the rooms he was passing. There was a large doorway leading into an empty hallway. He walked towards it and peered down the passageway. There was no light in it at all. Erk lit a small fire in the palm of his hand and held it above his head. The tunnel seemed to curve further downwards, but that was all he could see.

Since he really had nothing better to do, he began to walk down the dark corridor.

Back to Canas-

After a couple of minutes, he returned to the shelf, picking up another book.

After ten or so more books of dog-eared pages with underlined passages about terrible things happening to those who were homosexual, Canas had to calm himself again. In every single book, the hero of the story would claim the lives of innocent people, merely because of their sexual preference. That really frightened him. He had often caught himself staring at one of the male members of the army. But really, he thought, that boy was just beautiful, what with his lovely purple tresses which- He stopped his train of thought there. Now was not the time to think about such things.

He grabbed the next book. This one was called The Woes of True Love. In this book, the dog-eared page was right at the beginning. It was an author's note to start off the book.

_Greetings to you all. I would like to tell you that the contents of this book are completely true and happened to me. Names were changed to protect my lover and I, but this is our tale. Before I begin, I feel I should inform you all that this story involves homosexual love; in other words, males in love with males, and females in love with females. It is the story of how I, a simple Sacaen archer, fell in love with a boy from a village I found when I ran away from my tribe._

_If you are like most people, and believe what I did is disgusting and impure, put this book away, burn it, or do whatever you feel fit to do to it. I believe you have the right to express your opinion. I would not stop people from shunning me, or kicking me out of places. I have broken what they believe to be their 'sacred laws' and I understand that they are probably not too happy with me. However, that does not grant them the freedom to bring death upon my lover and I. We respect their choice. I hope they please at least try to deal with ours._

_I understand that some people might still want to kill my lover and I, but that won't stop me from writing this book. I will complete it, come what may. To all of those who are like my lover and I, I admire you. I admire you for finding and reading this book. I truly hope nothing bad will happen because of it. I wish you all a happy life. Now, on with my tale._

Canas put the book down in a separate pile from the others and smiled slightly. This book wasn't like the others, which all showed examples of people who had acted toward homosexuality with hostility and violence. This was a truly understanding and open-minded book. Canas would have to take it with him on his journey so he could read the entire thing.

He picked up the next book and looked at it, surprised at the lack of a single marked page. Upon opening it, he gasped, for this was exactly what he had been searching for. Carefully tucked inside of it were another book, a quill, and a dried out bottle of ink. He picked up the small, wyvern-hide bound black book, turned to the first page, and, once again, began to read.

_... I do not know what to write... Mother said I should keep a journal. She said it would be 'healthy and fun'. This is hardly fun. She'll check to see if I've written anything, though, I'm sure, so I should talk about something. Even though Mother never learned to read, she can still tell if I've written or not. So what to write about..._

_Well, hello to anyone reading this. I am Liam, son of the marquess, soon to be the marquess myself. Father died long ago, but I am not yet of age to succeed him. I am only 17 right now, and you must be 20 to gain throne rights. I often get quite bored of the castle, so I sneak out and go to the marketplace._

_So, Mother says that after I write about myself, I should write what happened recently. Let's see... I went down to the marketplace the other day and met this boy there. He was... well, I don't really know how to describe him. I've never met anyone like him. He looked about my age, and was wearing really grubby clothes, all patched and worn, and he had this sort of sandy-brown hair that went everywhere. He was a thief and he tried to steal from me._

_I never bring any money to the marketplace because I don't have any small denominations of currency that the peasants would have. They would undoubtedly be suspicious of my wealth…_

_So, right. This boy came up to me and did the old bumping-into-me-on-accident-but-really-on-purpose-so-he-could-steal-my-coin-sack act, but I wasn't stupid enough to fall for it. I may not have been carrying money, but I did have my coin sack with me and Mother would be suspicious if I had mysteriously 'lost' it. So I grabbed his hand and pulled him back. I told him to give back my sack and I wouldn't turn him in. He looked terrified, gave my sack back and ran off, faster than I thought it possible to run._

_For some reason, I wanted to run after him, ask his name, and strike up a conversation. I'm not sure why... This boy... I want to see him again. I think I am going to try and find him next time I go out._

Canas flipped a couple of pages until he found an entry that mentioned the boy from the marketplace again.

_I saw him again today. He was hiding in an alleyway eating a loaf of bread. I came and sat down next to him. I'll relay our conversation._

'_Hi there,' I said. 'You're the boy I saw the other day.'_

_He looked up at me with wide and fearful eyes, and asked, 'Yer not gonna turn me in, are yeh?' He had a very off way of speaking, but I suppose all people in the marketplace must speak like that. I'm trying my best to write it as it was said._

_I laughed and told him, 'I won't turn you in if you do something for me.' Still looking terrified, he replied, 'What is it?' I told him, 'I want to be your friend. I want to know about you and spend time with you.'_

_He breathed a sigh of relief. 'Oh, that's it? I can do that... Alrighty, well, my name's West. What's yers?' I told him my name was Liam. He laughed and asked, 'Are you the marquess's son or sommit?' He had been joking, but I flinched._

_Of course, everyone knows that the marquess's son's name is Liam. What had possessed me to give my real name, I don't know, but I just felt that I should trust this boy. Am I crazy, or what?_

Canas skipped over a few entries until he found what he was looking for. He'd read the entire thing later, but right now, he just wanted to confirm his theory.

_Today is the happiest day of my life. I am beyond overjoyed. We kissed today. West kissed me. Wow, I sound like one of the noble girls don't I? With all my giggling and such. But really, all my dreams have just come true today. I should tell you how it happened, shouldn't I?_

_Well, we were in his alley like always when he brought up homosexuality. Here's our conversation: 'Say Liam… what do ye think of lads likin' lads an' all that?' he asked. I looked away from West, feeling the blush well up in my cheeks. 'Er, well, there's nothing wrong with it really... As long as they love the other person, there's no reason why they shouldn't be together...' I told him, still looking away._

_There was silence for a while, until I finally looked at him. West was staring at me, the surprise clearly showing on his face. I had been standing up, leaning against the wall and West had been sitting beside me. But just then, West stood up and faced me, placing one hand on each side of me so I couldn't escape even if I had wanted to. 'Do ye,' he whispered, 'really mean that?' I nodded, staring up into his lovely green eyes, not trusting myself to speak._

_Then he kissed me. Oh, it was heaven. My first kiss and it was from the boy I love with all my heart. Wow, I sound rather sappy, don't I? Ah, West..._

Canas smiled warmly at the book and flipped a bunch of pages until he was near the end.

_West is watching me write this. We are down in the private library where we keep all the actually useful books. We just found a new one, by the way. It's another religious book, saying how much of a 'crime' we are committing. I still don't believe that Elimine really doesn't want West and I to be together. Those passages must have been added in later by cruel men._

_...Anyway. Today is the anniversary of my mother's death and also my 22nd birthday. I never really liked my mother, but I am thankful for all she did for me. If she didn't bore me to death when she was alive, I would have never snuck out of the castle and would never have met West._

_I have to sign some more papers after I write this. I don't even get any rest on my birthday... Sometimes it is a real pain to be marquess…_

Canas looked at the page, confused. Right after the writing, there was a long line that went off the page, as if the writer had been pulled away from the journal, dragging the quill with him. Turning the page, he began to read the next entry, this one written as if greatly rushed.

_Oh shit. Forgive me, Elimine, for using such language, but this is an occasion where it is truly necessary. As I was writing that, West came over and started to kiss me, and who was I to resist that? But as we were doing so, one of my maids walked in! I must have left the door down here open... Oh, I am such an idiot! She screamed and ran out of the room. West and I were too stunned to do anything, but we're really starting to think that not running after her was a bad idea..._

Again, Canas turned the page, and his eyes began to widen gradually as he read.

_This is terrible. They're all outside. All the common folk are outside with torches and even some fire magic tomes. Why did everything have to go so wrong? West blames himself. He says that since he kissed me and the maid saw us, he should take all the blame. I told him it was my fault since I had left the door open. When I told him that, he said it wasn't either of our faults. He says that we fell in love and there isn't anything anyone can do to change that. Falling in love with me, he says, was the best thing that ever happened to him. He said if he had the choice to go back and change time so he had never met me, he would never do it. He's really right... I told him the same went for me. I told him that even if I do die when I go out there to confront the common folk, I will never regret falling in love with West. West insists on coming, too. He says that he couldn't possibly live without me, and that if I die, he'll die as well. I've tried, but I can't convince him otherwise…_

_All right. We're going. This might be my last entry in here, so I'll leave this as a parting note. If someone finds and reads this, know this: I love West with all my heart and we will always be together. Even in death._

The diary ended there. Every page following that one was blank. Canas let the book drop limply into his lap.

/-/

Just then, a voice came from the doorway.

"Canas? What are you doing down here?"

The purple-haired teen walked in and extinguished the flame in his palm, which Canas realized he had undoubtedly used to light the hallway. Erk looked at Canas and suddenly started walking a little quicker, then came to a halt in front of the shaman's chair.

"Canas? Canas, are you all right? You look like you were crying," Erk said, his voice full of worry.

Canas blinked. He reached his hand up to his face to find that the boy had been right. He wiped the water away from his eyes, gazing up into Erk's purple ones. He then considered the thought that he had kept locked away for so long. Reading those books and that diary had opened his eyes to what was right in front of him.

Canas was in love with Erk.

No matter how many times he had tried to dismiss the sensations he felt when he was around Erk and the many hours he has spent thinking about the boy as innocent thoughts, he now realized that that wasn't true. He didn't want to believe that he would betray his wife, especially not with a teenaged male. But as much as he denied it, it was true; he was in love with Erk, and he could no longer pretend that he wasn't.

The boy had intrigued him since the first time he had seen him. Erk had been sitting on a field in the middle of a battle, reading a book. Previously, Canas had thought he was the only one who did such things. He had asked Pent, who was next to him at the time, who the boy was.

The sage had replied that the boy's name was Erk, and that prior to joining the army he had been Pent's student. Pent and Louise had taken him in for a while, and for the longest lengths of time, Erk would shut himself up in his room, not eating or sleeping, just sitting and reading. Canas had chuckled at that, for it had reminded him of himself when he had first learned to read.

Over the passing weeks, Canas had found that he was watching the youth more and more often, finding that he couldn't tear his eyes away. He was thinking about him as he lay in bed at night. He was even dreaming about him.

And now, in this dark and dismal castle with a terrible past, where innocent people had been burned alive because of their love, Canas realized his love for Erk.

An idea hit Canas suddenly, and he asked, "Erk, what do you think of homosexuality? You know, men loving other men and women loving other women...?"

Erk blinked at the supposedly random question. Then he looked away from Canas and said quietly, "I don't really know why you're asking... but I guess it's okay... as long as they both love each other..."

Canas stood up from his chair.

Startled by the movement, Erk looked up at the taller man, a faint blush plastered upon his face. "Canas...?"

Canas looked down into the mage's violet eyes. In them he saw confusion, embarrassment, and… he couldn't read the other emotion. He decided that if he didn't take this gamble, however risky, he would regret if for the rest of his life.

He leaned down and covered Erk's slightly parted lips with his own. Erk was stiff at first, clearly surprised at Canas's actions. But he responded to the kiss after a couple of seconds, relieving the worried Canas. Neither of the two felt brave enough to add a little tongue, though both wanted to. After a moment, they broke the contact and stared into each other's eyes.

Canas was suddenly hit by realization; he could read the other emotion in Erk's eyes now. It was love.

The End-

So, what do you think? I am pretty proud of this one. I am not expecting that many reviews since this is a one-shot, but I hope to get some. Review, onegai.


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